EYEZMAZE Strikes Again
January 23, 2009 11:02 AM   Subscribe

Friday Flash fun: GROW TOWER. posted by Rinku (45 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
When will we get Grow tower defense?
posted by 517 at 11:05 AM on January 23, 2009 [5 favorites]


huh?
posted by Perplexity at 11:09 AM on January 23, 2009


Oh, great leaping Jesus, I love these.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:16 AM on January 23, 2009


Ooh. These are always good. Will save this for later.
posted by Artw at 11:17 AM on January 23, 2009


Noooooooooooooooooooooooo. It took me forever to solve the first one.
posted by nikitabot at 11:26 AM on January 23, 2009


Am I the only one that hates the Grow games? It's just a depth-first search tree, right?
posted by DU at 11:26 AM on January 23, 2009 [5 favorites]


(Yes, I classify all my casual entertainment by the search algorithm it most resembles.)
posted by DU at 11:31 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


It's just a depth-first search tree, right?

Yes, but it's always a fun search tree, with cute animations and sound effects not only for the correct result, but the wrong ones. A lot of games look good when you're doing it right, and crappy when you do it wrong. Grow games always look good no matter how much you fail.
posted by explosion at 11:33 AM on January 23, 2009 [2 favorites]


@DU: Yeah, they are, just with pretty animations that give you slight hints. There's no logic to it, but it is neat.

Maxed out in two tries. Would grow again.
posted by heathkit at 11:34 AM on January 23, 2009


You *could* approach it by trying every possible combination, but it wouldn’t be much fun. The fun comes from narrowing down the search by observing your failures.
posted by Artw at 11:38 AM on January 23, 2009


Maybe is a symptom of mental illness, but I'd actually find it more fun (or at least less frustrating) if I *didn't* have to observe the failures. The range of behaviors is unknown and mutable, so it's just a game of "what did he do? I wonder what that means" rather than just marching linearly through the possibilities.
posted by DU at 11:41 AM on January 23, 2009


Excellent! These are always charming. I liked that there were only five variables in this one -- just as much fun, but less of the "I have to try 327,408 combinations???" factor.
posted by pineapple at 11:42 AM on January 23, 2009


I turned on the SUN!!! woo hoo!!!!! I win!!!
posted by snsranch at 11:44 AM on January 23, 2009


Why overthink this, kids? Charming, engaging, whimsical, with totally original art. Classify it as an art game, if you have to...art that you make go.
posted by oneironaut at 11:49 AM on January 23, 2009


Why did I hope this was a Towers of Hanoi game?
posted by cavalier at 11:52 AM on January 23, 2009


God, whenever these show up I must work them out entirely. This was no exception. And the cute animations are always rewarding when you finish them. Yay, sun! I just wish they'd come out more often.

Though I should note that I found this one more difficult than others; the ordering of the items was not as "sensible", and there seemed to be more interactions that seemed correct -- but weren't -- than there are in the others.
posted by barnacles at 11:56 AM on January 23, 2009


I feel like the beaver, but golly if these things aren't just neat.
posted by milarepa at 11:58 AM on January 23, 2009


For those of you who give up, ya quitters,

ohggba, hea, oevpx, fghzc, sybjrecbg.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:58 AM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I always cheat at Grow. I just want to see the win.
posted by Bookhouse at 12:04 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


I have a "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" bouncing around in my skull because I can't open my mouth and let it ring out across the cube farm.
posted by hecho de la basura at 12:06 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


It's about time there was another one of these.
posted by Caduceus at 12:18 PM on January 23, 2009


I got momentarily excited at the thought of the GROW people making a tower defence game (what would that even look like?), but this was fun, comme toujours.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 12:22 PM on January 23, 2009


Thanks for keeping me going for 20 minutes.
posted by jsavimbi at 12:24 PM on January 23, 2009


You coudl totally make a GROW tower defence game, given that tower defence games are all about trying combinations of things and seeing what works.
posted by Artw at 12:26 PM on January 23, 2009


Though I should note that I found this one more difficult than others;

I agree. I think it's because the winning combo has about 19 steps after the 5th item you place. Doesn't seem like a good progression.
posted by smackfu at 12:36 PM on January 23, 2009


I don't know what you guys are complaining about, the sequence is completely logical:

Just remember to coax the cyclopean mini wizard who lives in the Fairy tenement to transmogrify your plant into a multi-blossomed flower tv screen that shoots out a androgynous stick figure who can swim through the air in order to pull the cord for the sun. Don't forget to reincarnate the Shmoo living inside the spittoon so that he can come back as a devil moogle to harass the mini tree stump kingdom. Also, make sure that your brick robot merges with the dual cannons that used to be the spittoon were the Demon Moogles nee' Shmoo used to live.

In all honesty, if that's not obvious then maybe you're not cut out for metafilter.
posted by Telf at 12:43 PM on January 23, 2009 [21 favorites]


If the above comment seemed nonsensical, it's because I mistakenly typed the word "were" when I obviously meant "where" in the second to last sentence. Everything should make perfect sense with that correction.
posted by Telf at 12:46 PM on January 23, 2009 [3 favorites]


I love these. I am also glad that there weren't so many choices and that I worked it out in 5-6 tries.
posted by daHIFI at 12:58 PM on January 23, 2009


I like how the game has so many cute animations that you end up running into blind alleys and red herrings.
posted by The Whelk at 1:09 PM on January 23, 2009


Oh this is killing me. I've squandered so much time on this and I'm nowhere closer -- ADD-fueled curiosity is triumphing over desperate need for productivity. Would one of you mind posting -- or direct-messaging me -- the cheat so I can see this and move on?

Thanks!
posted by chinese_fashion at 1:19 PM on January 23, 2009


yeah, I've wasted too much time on this. where's the solution? I just want to see the animations.
posted by noriyori at 1:24 PM on January 23, 2009


Thanks! I love the Grow games. The animations for the incorrect solutions are especially cute on this one.
posted by goo at 1:30 PM on January 23, 2009


Solution.
posted by goo at 1:32 PM on January 23, 2009


For those in need of a hint, focus on what the brick-robot does, that's how I worked it out.
posted by empath at 1:37 PM on January 23, 2009


This wasn't in the FPP cause it (shockingly!) wasn't mentioned on Metafilter

Grow Nano v3
posted by The Whelk at 2:33 PM on January 23, 2009


Thanks, lots o' fun!
posted by meinvt at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2009


Did I just get extremely lucky at this? I didn't even grasp what this was about and randomly clicked through each thing only once and it says I won.
posted by P.o.B. at 7:24 PM on January 23, 2009


Ohhh, I remember Grow Cube. That one took me awhile.
posted by P.o.B. at 7:25 PM on January 23, 2009


Yay! I love the satisfaction of finishing these. So fun.
posted by dchrssyr at 7:50 PM on January 23, 2009


5 * 4 * 3 * 2 = 120, so you hit a 1/120 chance of getting it right on the first try, P.o.B.
posted by flaterik at 8:46 PM on January 23, 2009


Everything gets put on hold when one of these games comes out. I love them.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 11:21 PM on January 23, 2009


Thanks, love these, and this one had some great animations.

DU: Maybe is a symptom of mental illness, but I'd actually find it more fun (or at least less frustrating) if I *didn't* have to observe the failures. The range of behaviors is unknown and mutable, so it's just a game of "what did he do? I wonder what that means" rather than just marching linearly through the possibilities.

Uh, sorry, but to me this sounded a bit like a geek (I say that with all due respect) who has some trouble dealing with the vagaries of life and/or people in general (and really DU, having observed your commentary here on MeFi I don't believe this is the case for you, which is why the comment struck me as surprising! No offense intended!).

Aren't the behaviours of others always unknown and mutable? If a game can emulate that isn't it somewhat enticing and impressive?

Again, I love the Grow games precisely for their unpredictability and the fact that just when I think I've got it figured out, some new scene plays out and makes me have to start all over. Great puzzles.

(For the record, got this one way faster than others, and no, I won't give you the answer ;-)
posted by sharpener at 11:57 PM on January 23, 2009 [1 favorite]


Aha! That does that and that, so... click click click

GOT IT!

Nice one.
posted by Artw at 12:01 AM on January 24, 2009


Normally, I get very frustrated by these sorts of puzzles, due to the overwhelming sense of "You had to be in the meeting" I get when trying to fathom the logic (if any) of the process. Most room-escape puzzles ultimately fall into this niche.

The Grow puzzles, though, help diffuse this frustration by making even your failures so entertaining. I sometimes find myself purposely trying not to solve it, just so I can see as many permutations as possible.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:36 AM on January 25, 2009


I like these because it's sort of like biology - there's a black box in there somewhere, but exactly where and when it does its thing is unpredictable. Biology also has cool animations.
posted by sneebler at 11:43 AM on February 11, 2009 [1 favorite]


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